A cultural revival

Music and dance go hand in hand and they have a world of their own with many different forms which can be broadly classified as Western and Classical. While learning western music and dance forms can be a fascinating thing, exploring the classical world of songs and dance is also equally interesting which is exactly what a student pursuing her P.G in English is doing.

 

A classical dancer

Manasa Hegde, a student of St. Aloysius College (Autonomous), Mangalore, is pursuing her masters in English and is also a player of harmonium, but she didn’t restrict herself to only that and also went on further to learn the keyboard. She began learning the harmonium at the young age of 10 and then continued with the keyboard, learning it for two or three years. She also learnt Carnatic music for 15 years which she continues till date. She even learnt Bharatanatyam for 10 years

Young Manasa giving a Carnatic music performance

Apart from these two instruments, she also tried her hand at playing flute and guitar. Unfortunately, she couldn’t learn either of them as she could not sing songs at a very high pitch or above ‘C’ pitch as her voice is more suited for classical singing. She also is a Bharatanatyam dancer, but unfortunately she had to discontinue it as her personal issues hampered her regularity, following which she joined Alvas College in Moodbidri for her undergraduate studies. 

 

Manasa singing Classical music

Manasa gave tonnes of music and dance performance before going to Alvas and then in Alvas and in various parts of Karnataka. 

 

Manasa at a music performance

She says, “I look forward to continuing it, but am unable to do so now.” Apart from Bharatanatyam she can also perform other dance styles like Bollywood, folk dances and many more which she learnt all by herself. “I would love to learn western and contemporary dance forms which would be challenging” She says.

 

Manasa in her Yakshagana outfit

She adds “My mom gave me permission to join both singing classes when I was 5 years and dance classes when I was six years old, I love both singing and dancing equally.”